SAN ANTONIO — Researchers presented Phase III efficacy data from the GeparQuinto study, a head-to-head comparison of neoadjuvant lapatinib and trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy for patients with early breast cancer, at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.

“We had a primary goal to compare the standard anti-HER2 neoadjuvant combination of chemotherapy, trastuzumab, with the new combination of chemotherapy and lapatinib,” said Michael Untch, M.D., head of the multidisciplinary breast cancer department at Helios Clinic in Berlin, Germany.

The GeparQuinto study was conducted at 85 centers throughout Germany and includes 2,500 patients, 550 of whom have HER2-neu-overexpressing breast cancer. This is the largest prospective patient cohort of chemo-targeted neoadjuvant therapy worldwide.

All patients received four cycles of 90 mg/m2 epirubicin and 600 mg/m2 cyclophosphamide every three weeks, followed by four cycles of 100 mg/m2 docetaxel. They were randomly assigned to also receive concomitant 6 mg/kg trastuzumab every three weeks or 1,250 mg lapatinib per day throughout all cycles.

At baseline, patient characteristics were similar between the two groups, with both groups presenting a clinical median tumor size of 40 mm. The researchers also reported a similar number of patients in each group with T4a-c or T4d disease, bilateral, multifocal or multicentric disease, and estrogen receptor-negative and progesterone receptor-negative disease.

The last of the patients are currently undergoing surgery, and Untch will present histological and surgical outcome results for these patients at the symposium.

“After assessing response to neoadjuvant chemo-targeted therapy in patients with HER2 overexpressing tumors, we are following the patients from this study to see whether pathologic complete response at surgery is correlated to the outcome of the patients,” he said.

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Follow the AACR on Twitter @AACR, and throughout the meeting using the hash tag #SABCS. Recordings of the teleconferences and video interviews with researchers will be posted to the AACR website throughout the meeting: www.aacr.org/page23506.aspx.

The mission of the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is to produce a unique and comprehensive scientific meeting that encompasses the full spectrum of breast cancer research, facilitating the rapid translation of new knowledge into better care for breast cancer patients. The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and Baylor College of Medicine are joint sponsors of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. This collaboration utilizes the clinical strengths of the CTRC and Baylor, and the AACR’s scientific prestige in basic, translational and clinical cancer research to expedite the delivery of the latest scientific advances to the clinic. The 33rd annual symposium is expected to draw nearly 9,000 participants from more than 90 countries.